Lieutenant Hicks jumped off the Pelican, turned to his men and shouted, "Come on, Marines! New Mombasa's calling, and we're going to answer!" He turned back around, saw a group of Grunts charging the Pelican, and mowed them down with his SMG. The Pelican landed on a large, flat surface that was elevated above the street. The team moved over the ten meters of clear space until they could see a ramp in front of them that led left down to the street. As Hicks was reloading his clip, 3 Jackals came out from behind a wall and shot him right in the chest multiple times. The standard combat armor held on the first shot, but was melted away by the following green plasma bolts. Sergeant Banks fired his own SMG at the Jackals' exposed side, only getting one of the squawking bastards before the other two deflected his bullets with their shields. "Fire in the hole!" Private Martin screamed. A half second after the hand-held explosive rested on the duracrete, it exploded, sending the Jackals flying over their heads. "Medic!" the Marines yelled. The medic ran up to Hicks. and checked him out. "It's pretty bad," he mused. "We need to get him on a stretcher and pull him out of here." He radioed to the Pelican pilot, "We need a dust-off, on the double. Lieutenant Hicks has been hit." "Negative," the pilot replied. "The LZ is too hot. Plasma flak's everywhere. You'll have to patch him up there, over." "Roger." He turned to the squad leader, as of a minute ago, Sergeant Banks. "We need to establish a med-station." "Okay. The other two squads are to the northeast and west. We'll converge here." He marked a road just below them, off the ramp. "There are some hangers there. Everyone got that? All right, ladies. Clear out!" 10 of the 15 man squad ran down the ramp. One man covered the squad from above the ramp, the medic stayed with the el-tee by the ramp, and a sniper and spotter went to a charred highway overlooking the LZ. Hangers had been placed throughout the city before Earth was assaulted so that the Marines had little bases from which to operate out of. There were two hangers here, and that would be adequate when the other squads arrived. "Martin," Banks called. "Sir?" "Help Private Stalworth bring down the chain guns, we'll be needing them." "Yes, sir." He ran back up the incline and informed Stalworth what to do. The rest of the squad moved into the building adjacent the ramp and hangers. It was dark and the squad silently moved up the stairs to the left. This building had been bombed pretty good. There were holes in the wall that the squad crouched under. When footsteps and the clanging of ammo chains came up the stairs, the team held their position. "Martin, set up one of those in this hole," Banks whispered, referring to the hole in the wall above their heads. Martin nodded. "Stalworth, come with us." The Marines moved further, out onto a walkway that overlooked a road. The walkway also went down to a lower level to the right. A group of Grunts were waddling around some chairs on the lower ramp. Private Cole, the radio man, peeked his head around the corner and saw that the Jackals and Grunts had erected a small base-camp around two cars. More to his left, a huge Covenant artillery piece was standing. It charged up, drawing air particles into it, then firing a blue ball of flame over their position and slamming into a building somewhere behind them. Just then, a burst of static from Coles' radio sent shockwaves reverberating between the walls of buildings. The Covenant looked up and saw the Human poking his head out and pulled out their plasma pistols. Cole got out of the way as green plasma filled his spot. "Martin, fire that chain gun!" Banks shouted. A second later, hundreds off bullets flew towards the small base camp, mowing down the Grunts and the Jackals who had yet to turn on their shields or take cover. "Go! Go! Go!" Banks ordered, and the men streamed out of the doorway. Most stayed on the upper ramp, 6 to be exact. But Banks and Cole ran down to the lower ramp, killing the five Grunts who had milled about by the chairs. "Stalworth!" Stalworth came running up to him, holding his chain gun and stand under his armpit. "Put up that gun right here." He motioned to a small meter-tall rail that ran on this side of the ramp. "We'll hit 'em from both sides, left and front." "Yes sir." "Covering fire!" Banks cried. Private Cole, Private Parsons, Corporal Perez, and Banks popped up from behind their small wall of cover and filled the air with lead with their Battle Rifles or SMG's. 10 seconds later, after Stalworth readied the gun, the team took cover, reloaded, then fired at will. Stalworth thumbed down the trigger, but as Coles noticed, was not very accurate with it. He couldn't stand by and watch him waste ammo. He pushed Stalworth to one side and stood behind it. Stalworth paused for a second, disgruntled and confused, then went to the right of the chain gun and unlimbered his Battle Rifle, shooting a Jackal's hand through one of the open spots. Coles fired at a group of Grunts taking cover in a burned out building across the street from Banks' position. Over the radio, "Lieutenant Hicks, come in. Sir, do you read?" Coles jumped off the chain gun and gave the radio to Banks. "This is Sergeant Banks. The el-tee was hit, I'm in command of A-Company, Alpha-1. Who am I speaking with?" "This is Sergeant Cruise, We're at your med-station now, I have all fifteen men, but several are wounded from a skirmish we had half a click northeast. I've got ten healthy men. Alpha-3 split up. Six went with some Warthogs who needed gunners, so the other nine should be here any minute now," Sergeant Cruise said. "Alright. Leave your wounded there and come up here quick. We're taking heavy fire." Banks looked up to see Private Walter take a bolt to the face and fall over backwards dead. "Roger, be there in two shakes. A-Company, Alpha-2, out." "Hang on guys, reinforcements are on the way!" Banks called to his remaining squad. Perez had his back to the wall in the crouched position. He pulled a grenade, and tossed it over the railing. The grenade was off by 5 meters, only wounding one Grunt. Cole was back on the chain gun, laying down cover fire as half of the squad reloaded. Just then, ten marines trotted out of the doorway that led to their position, firing over Marines' shoulders as they made their way down the ramp and to Banks. "I was reviewing the city map, and I discovered a way to outflank them," Cruise said. "Nice to see you, too. We'll cover your squad as you make your way around," Banks said. "Covering fire!" Cruise's squad went to the area where the chairs were and had just started to make their way down the ramp, when they ran head first into 15 Grunts and 5 Jackals who had hid there, out of the Marines' sight. Cruise got off a burst from his SMG at the lead Jackal before it's over-charged plasma pistol burnt into his chest. All of his bullets ricocheted off the Jackal's shield and into the wall. The other 14 Covenant had the bulk of their pistols aimed at the Marines and they filled the space with green, super-heated plasma. Most found their targets. Two Marines lived, and they primed and threw a grenade each just as a hail of plasma burned them to death. The grenades were thrown far, somewhat behind the Jackals. The three Jackals that died took the brunt of the explosives' shrapnel. Four Grunts died, three were wounded, and eight came out unscathed. The sound of the chain gun pounded in Stalworth's ears as he stood next to it, covering the sound of plasma fire from behind. It was only when he felt his back plate burn through his olive drab shirt did he understand what was happening. But before he could turn around, a bolt struck him in the back of the head, toppling him over the railing. Cole got hit in the back of the thigh. He bent down reflexively and turned around, and was then shot in the shoulder and chest, and finished by a bolt to the left cheek. His body fell, draped over the railing. Banks realized what was going on, and he opened up on some Grunts who were running across to the upper ramp. He mowed down two Grunts with his SMG, but three got to the opposite side and took cover by the ramp that led to the upper level. Two Jackals and a Grunt went down to the street to his left, while the other six took cover by the white chairs, now stained red with blood. Over his squad radio he said, "I need reinforcements! My position is being overrun. I repeat, need reinforcements!" Just as he stopped the transmission, a Grunt charged out and shot at Banks. He was hit twice in the lower left-hand stomach region, just above the hip. As he placed his left hand over the wound, he fired is SMG with his right, killing the Grunt. He unloaded the rest of the clip over the Grunts' heads, giving himself time to crawl back into a corner, thereby not exposing himself to ground fire from the street. "Sergeant," Parsons said over the team's COM. "We've got a Pelican coming in with reinforcements. Perez went to go get them. I can't get to your position. Fire's too heavy. Just hold tight a minute longer." "Roger," Banks grunted. An orange-trimmed Grunt poked his head out, and it cost him. A quick burst from the bullet hose sent his brains over the floor. He noticed that the artillery was still firing, and he considered his options. After a covering burst from his SMG, he inched over to Coles' dead body. He put his hand out to grab it, but soon felt the warm of plasma as it flew an inch over his hand. Another covering burst kept the Grunts at bay by the chairs, allowing him ample time to regroup in the corner. After ten seconds with no movement from the Grunts, he knew they were planning something. A quick burst served three purposes: to keep their heads down, empty his clip, and let them know he's still there. After reloading, he put a burst into the wall by the ramp, to keep them back as well. He continued this, covering fire every few seconds, for the next minute. I hope the reinforcements arrive soon, he thought, because I'll run out of ammo in a minute at this rate. An explosion blasted through the small wall on the upper ramp. He hoped none of his men were there and had fallen back. It was strangely quiet for a moment, before the sound of two Battle Rifles broke the silence. The shots grew louder, and Banks knew his reinforcements were here. Three figures in black suits stood over the ramp. One was to the ramp's right, firing his SMG at the three Grunts below who had gotten past Banks, and the other two were to the ramp's left, firing at the Covenant on the street. Then, a figure he had only seen in UNSC propaganda clips to boost morale, ran across the ramp entrance to the ramp's right. He tossed a grenade down. A whiff of fire and a puff of smoke was all Banks saw, and all he needed to see to decipher what happened. The figure trotted down the ramp, firing at the three pesky Grunts by the chairs. Banks studied him. The bulky pack on the back of their suits had been removed on this version, which meant an updated variant of the suit. It seemed duller and had more of a yellow tint to it. Personally, Banks thought this suit looked more intimidating than the last unit. But whichever suit they were in, Banks could recognize him as a Spartan. The Spartan reloaded his Battle Rifle and walked up to Banks in a crouch. "When I asked for reinforcements, I didn't think they'd send a Spartan," Banks joked, obviously in pain. One of the black armored men ran down to check the bodies of Alpha-2, but Banks already knew the answer, and he thought the armored man knew it, too. Just then, the artillery charged up and shot a huge blue/white bolt at a yellow building, dangerously close to the Marines' position. "We gotta take that thing out," Banks said, pointing a thumb back at the artillery to the Chief. "Cover me!" The Chief popped up from his crouched position as Banks eased towards Coles' body. The Spartan stepped up in between the chain gun and Banks, firing at a few Grunts running across open ground. He tossed a grenade in the middle of two cars, one of which on fire. They exploded, taking several Grunts with them. "Tech-HQ, I've got hostile artillery 200 meters north-northeast of my position. Bring some smoke, over," Banks said into the radio. The Master Chief then concentrated his fire on some of the Jackals that took cover across the street from the ramp in a burned out building. He stepped back, and noticed the chain gun. A second later, he brought its power to bear on the Covenant. After ten seconds of continuous fire, one of the ODST's said over their personal COM channel, "Hostiles, right." John shifted his fire to the two Jackals and Grunt that had taken cover behind some information signs. A Jackal was caught off guard, and was mowed down, the Grunt getting in the cross fire. After he blew through the last Jackal's cover, he poured bullets into him. The ODST's fired at the Covenant in the burned out building as the Chief swivelled around to support their fire. "Dammit, HQ, is anybody on this freq?" Banks yelled furiously into the mike. "Sergeant," a calm voice said over the radio, "This is Major Easly. Hold tight, we're inbound." The Chief jumped off the chain gun, killed a Jackal with his Battle Rifle, then craned his neck to the sky. A loud screech was heard behind him to his right. Two Longswords came in head-on at the artillery piece. The artillery had rotated to the Longswords' inbound vector and had begun to charge. The planes flew over the artillery piece, dropping 4 bombs. They impacted just as the Covenant artillery discharged. The bolt sailed behind the planes. The gun exploded in blue white fire, sending debris everywhere. "Verify delivery of coordinates on target," Easly said. "Dead on, Major. Target neutralized," Banks replied. John's Battle Rifle spit out one shot that hit a Grunt dead-center in the head. The Jackal behind him retreated. He turned to Banks. "Here. Take my weapon. You'll need it." Banks held out his SMG, which the Chief took, an SMG in both arms. "Squad move out," and ODST said over the radio. John turned away, jumping down a ramp, mowing down a Grunt, and then proceeding into the remains of the burned out building. After cutting a Jackal and three Grunts in half, he went over a pile of debris and past a fire. A Jackal and three more Grunts furiously held this alley. "Frag and clear!" and ODST said, tossing a grenade into the corridor. The Covenant were stunned and wounded, but not dead, which was soon taken care of. After retrieving a plasma grenade from a dead Grunt, he moved onto an angled chunk of building which elevated him 3 meters off the street. When he stopped at the top, he saw a Jackal running from a creep to finish the delta formation the other four Jackals had created, overlapping their shields. Green fire from a Grunt on top of the Creep in a turret lashed across the Chief's shields. He fired at the Jackals, aiming for the small gaps, but they didn't penetrate. Just as the Creep started to exit stage left, two Warthogs came, running over four of the Jackals, and shooting the one on the far left. It was Foxtrot-Alpha-3. "We could use a gunner, sir" the driver said, referring to the unmanned Gauss Cannon on the back of the 'Hog. "Don't worry, sir, we got your back," a Marine in the second Warthog said over the COM as it pulled away, firing it's LAAG at a second Creep coming in from the right. The convoy of Warthogs that had taken six of Foxtrot-Alpha-3's men had gone through most of the city. They drove fast and used hit and run tactics, relieving small patches of Marines where they could. They had the misfortune of arriving too late to stop thirty Grunts and twenty Jackals from overrunning a squad of a few Marines. The three Warthogs made easy work of the Covenant, but Sergeant Reynolds' gunner got shot up bad. One Warthog went off on its own, while Reynolds' and another 'Hog went back for a gunner. They made their way to Banks' rendevous, dropped him off, and were told from a wounded Marine that the Chief and Banks could use a hand. They went to the left, trying to find a way around buildings and debris-strewn roads. They saw the Chief on the ledge taking heavy fire, and knew that all the area behind him was secure. The Master Chief fired at the passing Creep, watching it explode and drop the meter it levitated to the ground. "That's the way! Yeah!" Private Irwin yelled enthusiastically. The two 'Hogs went up the small hill, and Reynolds drove his Warthog on the curb, revealing two Creeps in a road below them. John destroyed one, but the other one got out of his aim before he could lay down accurate fire upon it. The other 'Hog made a left, while the Chief's stayed on this road. A Jackal took cover by a car. The Chief fired a shell at the car, watched it explode, and took satisfaction in the dead, mangled carcus that remained. To their left, the Creep popped up, and was quickly subdued as the 'Hog drove away. Two more Jackals took cover by cars, which were blown up, as well as the Jackals. They took a left, narrowly missing a car. Reynolds ran over a Grunt from behind. The other Warthog passed in front of them, shifting a Jackal's fire that was in front of him. It didn't see the LRV coming and didn't see his killer. "That better buff out," Reynolds joked. "Ghosts! Making a break for it, quick!" Irwin yelled as two Ghosts tried to run away, piloted by Grunts. "I got 'em," Reynolds said, following a Ghost that broke left. One Gauss shot killed the Ghost, but it was replaced by two more heading at them. The LRV took fire from them as Reynolds backed up to turn right. The one 'Hog's LAAG put down heavy lead on one Ghost, causing it to explode. The second Ghost went right, which John took care of. The Warthog then went right, past the dead Ghost, then to the left, confronting a Creep. Four shots to the front lifted its nose up, and then two shots to the front's side finished it. The LRV went left again, spotting two Ghosts driving with them in front to their left on the curb. John shot one and it exploded in purple fragments. "That's one," Irwin said. As the second Ghost crossed the intersection, the second Warthog hit the left side of the Ghost, toppling it into a med-station. "That's two...Come on! Who's one more?" Irwin taunted. From out of nowhere, the third 'Hog from Alpha-3 slid in from the right. A Ghost drove right up to the Chief's Gauss cannon and knew why it was a formidable weapon. The second Ghost exploded thanks to a great shot at 100 meters. Just as the third 'Hog led the convoy down that road where John had the great shot, a Phantom roared overhead. "A Phantom!" Cortana announced. "Hang on!" Reynolds said. Pink plasma fire passed white hot lead from both the LAAG and the Gauss Cannon. The convoy made a hard right, then a hard left, encountering another Phantom passing overhead. The Marines' efforts to shoot down the Phantom were useless. Two Brutes dropped down from the craft as the 'Hogs passed under the Phantom. "Look out!" Cortana warned, just as a Brute dropped on Reynolds' hood. The Brute on the Chief's 'Hog back handed Irwin in his passenger seat, killing him and throwing him out the side. Then mauling Reynolds out of the driver seat, sending the LRV to a stop on the curb. John fired four shots at the beast's feet. The massive alien jumped off the hood and onto the pavement. The Chief swung the butt of his rifle across its chest, came back and whipped it in its shoulder, then brought the butt down on its skull, sending it into a heap on the pavement. He pointed his Battle Rifle at its chest and fired two bullets. Never hurt to be safe. The Chief turned to the right and saw two more Brutes firing at him. The bolts sizzled green, white, and blue surrounding a yellow core. He put a bullet into each slowly advancing creatures, but they did nothing more then briefly pause. John knew he needed something big. That's when he noticed a blue car next to them. Five bullets into the car, and it exploded in a hail of shrapnel, killing the two Brutes. A third ran behind his dead comrades towards the third Warthog of Alpha-3. Those men were dead, had shared the same fate as Reynolds and Irwin. Where the first 'Hog of Alpha-3 were, John could only guess. A bullet to the rogue Brute's head quickly put it out of submission. "Ghosts, to your right," Cortana said. John looked right, and saw one of the Ghosts heading straight for him. He slung his rifle and pulled out his dual SMG's. He fired several quick bursts at the passing hovercraft, then focused his attention to the other Ghost heading right for him. "Wait for it," Cortana said. The Chief readied, then jumped on the Covenant craft's left wing, stabilizing himself before his move. "Nice!" The Spartan swung around feet first and kicked the Brute pilot out of his seat, putting himself behind the yoke instead. He turned it 180 degrees and fired the dual plasma cannons at the Brute pilot, now standing in the open. It went down in a pool of purple blood. "The Marines won't stand a chance if those Phantoms double back. See if you can draw them off," Cortana suggested. After putting in a burst to a Brute on the right, he headed back down to his Warthog where another Brute was. One Phantom accidently hit the Brute with its plasma cannon, killing him before John could. He turned and fired futilely at the Phantoms, tempting them to chase him. He turned left, and on a bridge. The two Phantoms and two Ghosts rumbled behind him. He stole a glance back to make sure they were there. Two lines of blue orbs of plasma and pink streaks followed the Chief as he made his escape. The lead Phantom encountered a crossing beam that blocked its shot at the Chief. So to get a bead on the Human directly after it cleared the beam, he kept firing, but tilted the cannon up, parallel to the ground. Unfortunately, a sign was right in its line of fire, farther forward by about 100 meters. The plasma easily burned through the sign, breaking its anchor to its building, and hinging it down. To avoid the massive sign, the ship went under it. But it broke just as the assault craft was passing under, and it knocked the Phantom out of the sky, causing it to flip on its back. Just as the Chief passed by, his silhouette was illuminated by the blue-white explosion that followed. The Master Chief went down into a tunnel, however the tunnel read the signature as a Ghost, and access was denied. The bottom of the tunnel, barely visible through the black smoke of a burned car, began to be sealed off by two walls slowly coming down. He leaned off of the right side of the Ghost, making his body as flat as possible. "Chief," Cortana nagged. "Hang on," he said. Just as the Ghost scraped through the doors, he jumped onto the duracrete. The Ghost tumbled into pieces slightly to the left. The Chief slid down straight ahead, his suit shooting up sparks as he slid across the pavement. The two Brutes piloting the Ghosts following him passed through the black smoke of a burned car, hungry for revenge. After readjusting their eyes from the smoke, they were surprised to see a wall, and their expressions showed it. With no time to stop, the Ghosts crashed into the closed doors. John got up with an SMG in each hand. Cortana said, "Bingo, there's the Cruiser." A Covenant Cruiser dominated the city skyline. A purple grav-lift shot down to the surface. "All we need to...do...is..." She trailed off as streaks of blue rained down from the sky and the Chief craned his neck up to see what they were. There were hundreds of them, John couldn't even count. Five oval-shaped blue-black pods crashed into the pavement around him. With the SMG's at his side, two more landed in front of him. Two more landed directly in front of him. Gases vented from opening cracks on the closest pod to the Chief, and then the pod doors burst open and a black Elite jumped out, a glowing stick in its right hand. It roared, shaking its head clear. The other pods had been emptied, and the first Elite woofed to the second behind it. The Elite turned on its Plasma Sword, the bright blue radiance glowing on its black armor. The Chief realized the gravity of the situation and brought up his SMG's at the lead Elite. Two more whooshes were heard to his right and then others as the seven Elites prepared to slice this Human in half. Completely surrounded in a semi-circle, John backed up a step, dropped his SMG in his right hand, and pulled out a plasma grenade. "Betchya can't stick it," Cortana teased. He primed the plasma grenade, emitting a high- pitched squeal and a blue haze. "You're on."-Steve